Big RADIO WARS update for ya. On Monday’s afternoon show, Jon Marks announced his WIP departure, saying this, in part:

“I mentioned this a couple of times here, over the last year plus, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about my future here at WIP. These are conversations I’ve had with management, with Rod Lakin and David Yadgaroff, even with you. The Marks and Reese show is amazing, the success that we’ve had, over 6 years now that we’ve been working together, I’ve been at WIP almost 7 years, and what we’ve done in 6 years, the community that we’ve made, the show that we’ve made has been nothing short of amazing. It came time where I needed to make a (long term contract) commitment to the show and the station as opposed to going year to year, which is what I’ve been doing the last couple of years. And as great as the show is, everything kept coming back to the hours that I’m working. I don’t work until 10 or midnight, but I’m not getting home on most nights until 7:30. As my kids get older, I’m missing all these activities – softball, soccer, basketball, even dinner every night. Since my kids have been alive I’ve been working this shift. And I had to ask myself ‘is this something I could see myself doing for the next five years?’ The station and show deserve the commitment from somebody. It was a difficult decision and something I internally wrestled with for a really long time. And after talking to management and talking with you, and (management was amenable and asked what they could do)… I made the difficult decision to leave the Marks and Reese Show and WIP. My last show is Wednesday. It’s a very difficult decision.”

Marks was coming to the end of his contract, and with no news of an extension, it was pretty clear where this was headed.

The most curious thing about Jon deciding to leave is that his afternoon show with Ike Reese and Jack Fritz is a ratings monster. It was consistently the #1 or #2 sports talk radio program in all of Philadelphia, battling only with WIP’s morning show for Nielsen supremacy.

Marks came over to WIP from 97.5 the Fanatic in 2017, originally working the 6 to 10 p.m. shift previously held by Brian “Sludge” Haddad. After Chris Carlin’s New York exit, Jon was paired with Ike Reese, and the pair went head to head with Mike Missanelli before pulling away in Nielsen’s men 25 to 54 category. In the last few ratings periods, Marks and Reese tripled or quadrupled The Best Show Ever? on 97.5 the Fanatic.

Two things I find interesting:

  • Marks walking away from a popular and successful show
  • WIP replacing all three main dayparts in less than a year

RE: point number 1, it takes some guts to leave a drive time shift that wins, and wins big. I have no clue how much money Jon was making, but P.M. drive on 94 WIP is a wonderful platform to have. Jon mentions family, of course. That always has to be priority #1. But it’s still a big job to leave. (he did mention later in the conversation with Ike that he could use a change of pace)

To point number 2, both the morning show and midday show were re-worked when Angelo Cataldi retired, and while most of WIPs recent moves amount to internal reshuffling (Joe Giglio, Joe DeCamara, Jon Ritchie, etc), the WIP lineup is a lot different than it was about a year ago. No big deal though, because they continue to dominate 97.5 the Fanatic, so it’s almost like it doesn’t even matter what WIP does at this point. They romp. Rod Lakin and the other Audacy decision makers have successfully guided WIP out of the Angelo era without so much as a blip on the radar.

Who replaces Marks? That’s a separate post for later. Meantime: